The present invention relates generally to a heat exchanger for use with automotive electronics. More specifically, the present invention relates to a fluid heat exchanger for use in cooling high power automotive electronics.
Electronic components have had an increasingly diverse role in automotive design technology. Specialized components and/or applications have been incorporated into a wide variety of automotive functions. Often these functions can vary, including traditional automotive functionality, increased safety features, and increased performance features. In one recent genre of automotive design, namely hybrid-electric and pure electric vehicles, electronic components have assumed even the most fundamental roles of automotive functionality. Although, as mentioned, these electronic components and systems may be implemented to increase functionality, performance and safety over prior designs, they carry with them their own set of design concerns that must be addressed to insure proper operation of the vehicle under a variety of conditions.
One such design consideration that must be addressed stems from the tendency of electronic components and assemblies to generate thermal energy during operation. This thermal energy, created as a by-product of operation, must often be dissipated or transferred away from the electronics in order to insure the electronic components continue to operate as intended. Failure to adequately address thermal energy dissipation can lead to potential malfunctioning or damage in some electrical component scenarios. Hybrid-electric and pure-electric vehicle designs have lead to the use of high power electrical components that further require considerable heat dissipation that conventional electronic heat sink assemblies often are inadequate to address.
In an effort to address the heat dissipation requirements of such electric vehicle electronics, designs have turned to the use of automotive anti-freeze solutions to effectuate the cooling of electronics within the vehicle. The dissipation requirements when taken in light of prior art designs, however, often placed considerable limitations on system costs and performance. Prior systems, for example, often required that the circulating anti-freeze solution be continuously circulated at temperatures less than 70 degrees Centigrade. This can lead to tight design requirements and costly performance parameters imposed on the entire cooling assembly. Power electronic devices were often traditionally mounted with cast machined metal heat sink containing specifically designed fluid passages. This too was known to result in increased design and manufacturing costs. Finally, in order to achieve higher convective heat transfer effects of the fluid flowing through the passage, prior art designs often relied on intricate, staggered fin patterns machined or cast into the internal surfaces of the heat sink. The process of casting or machining these fins was known to add cost to the design and manufacturing and was known to become prohibitive as the design performance requirements increased.
In addition to increasing design complexity and cost, prior art approaches towards cooling of electric vehicle electronics have often created other concerns for design engineers. As is fundamentally obvious in many applications, liquid cooling fluid and electrical circuitry are not intended to come into contact. Heat sink assembly designs, therefore, must often take considerable care to insure contact does not occur during operation of the vehicle. Results of such contact during operation are known to result in improper operation or failure of the electronic circuitry. Despite these concerns, prior designs often utilized large access covers that were subject to flexure and eventual leakage or seal violation due to cycling internal pressures. A design utilizing a smaller containment perimeter in order to reduce the overall susceptibility to high fluctuating pressures would therefore be highly desirable.
It would therefore be highly desirable to have an automotive electronics heat exchanger that reduced the high fabrication costs associated with traditional machining and casting methodologies. In addition, it would be highly desirable to have an automotive electronics heat exchanger that reduced the susceptibility to leakage or seal violation. Finally, a design that reduced weight and allowed for a smaller overall electronics packaging volume would be additionally beneficial.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an improved heat exchanger for use in automotive electronics. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a heat exchanger for use in automotive electronics with reduced fabrication costs and improved performance.
In accordance with the objects of the present invention, an automotive electronics assembly is provided. The electronics assembly includes a housing containing at least one electronic power device. A heat sink device is positioned within the housing and is in thermal communication with the at least one electronic power device. The heat sink device includes a fluid input port in fluid communication with a coolant. A fluid vessel is in communication with the fluid input port such that the coolant flows from the fluid input port, through the fluid vessel, and into a fluid output port. The heat sink device includes at least one fin insert positioned within the fluid vessel. Thermal energy generated by the at least one electronic power device is thereby transferred to the heat sink device and dissipated away into the flowing coolant.